Relevant sections in BOLD (emphasis mine)
http://cnnstudentnews.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0501/18/se.02.htmlVOINOVICH: Well, it's, as I say, a high priority, the money.
I also, as you know, feel that our best offense against terrorism is intelligence, diplomacy and something that Bobby Burns once talked to, and that is, "Oh, that some great power would give me the wisdom to see myself as other people see me."
And I also attended a CODEL. And we were in England, and we were in Southeast Europe, and then at the NATO meeting in Venice. And I was just shocked at what I got back from our friends about how badly we're thought of today in that part of the world.
And I just wonder, what are you going to do to try and change that?
I think what we're doing in the tsunami right now is wonderful. I think it's -- but we have got to show people that we love them, that we are for democracy, that we want them to enjoy the same thing but we haven't any hidden motives.
What are you planning on doing in that area to respond to that?RICE: Senator, first of all, I do agree that the tsunami was a wonderful opportunity to show not just the U.S. government, but the heart of the American people. And I think it has paid great dividends for us.Sometimes what happens is that we've had to ask people to do very difficult things and we've had policies that people don't like.
I think in some corners there are people who've been unhappy with the way that we've dealt with the Middle East, with the strong support for Israel, with our strong belief that terrorism has got to stop there.
But we somehow have to get the message out that this is also the first president to call, as a matter of policy, for a Palestinian state, and somehow we're not getting that message out as well.
What I plan to do is that I'm going to put a major emphasis on public diplomacy in all of its forms. That means in getting our message out.
And public diplomacy really is the State Department's core -- a State Department responsibility. The State Department has to take on this challenge. Because public diplomacy isn't done here in Washington. Public diplomacy is done in London or done in Amman or done in Riyadh.
And so, the arms and legs of the public diplomacy effort are our embassies out there and our ambassadors and what they do on a daily basis.
And so I think we have to have a new, renewed effort on that piece of it, getting our message out.
We also have to have a new, renewed effort on getting our people back and forth. Because people, when they come to the United States and see who we are and can get past some of the filter of perhaps some of the sides of America that are not well-liked or respected, I think do come away with a different view of us.
And so I will have a strong emphasis on getting our message out, on getting the truth to people, on diminishing the -- on doing something to mitigate against the propaganda that's out there against us, but also on going to our long-time partners and friends, and saying, "We have a common purpose here, a great cause ahead of us."
And the trans-Atlantic alliance, you know, sometimes it's a little bit like whatever it was that Mark Twain said about Wagner's music. I think he said it's better than it sounds.
Well, in fact, our trans-Atlantic alliances are really better than people give us credit for. We're cooperating in a lot of places. We're working hard together in a lot of places. We've had a lot of successes.
But we can do more in this period of tremendous opportunity to unify the great democracies, the great alliances for a push to spread freedom and liberty.
I think it's an agenda that is inspiring. And I think we've done a lot already, but there is much more that we can do.
VOINOVICH: Thank you.
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(953 posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
